Rarely do employers intend to debilitate job candidates – but it happens anyway.

Many job seekers are hamstrung way before their resumes have a chance to stand on their accomplishments or merits. This anomaly occurs when the person screening the candidates applies their personal biases.

The University of California, San Francisco, Office of Diversity and Outreach defines unconscious bias as “social stereotypes about particular groups of people that individuals form outside their conscious awareness.”

Unconscious bias can lead to “microaggressions,” described by Psychology Today as “the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.”

They are tough, resilient, and courageous in the face of these experiences. Workplaces that welcome these character traits will likely benefit from having these job seekers on board – as long as bias doesn’t stand in the way of hiring them.

Some Types of Biases Job Seekers Face:

Bias Toward the Unemployed: Some employers refuse to hire applicants who are unemployed. However, many unemployed and underemployed job seekers are talented and qualified. Often, they have lost their previous jobs due to reasons beyond their control, like downsizing.

Bias Toward ‘Ethnic’ Fashions: For example, there have been instances where job seekers are terminated or denied job offers by wearing their hair in dreadlocks, a style was traditionally worn by black people. In fact, courts have upheld an employer’s right to do this. Whether I wear dreadlocks or not, it feels like an attack because of my ethnicity.

Bias Toward Names: Name bias occurs when an employer rejects a candidate based on the way their name sounds – usually because the company perceives the candidate’s name to appear “ethnic.” I experienced this in action when working with a woman named Latoya several years ago. Her resume was great – an engineering graduate with honors, many internships, and volunteer positions to prove her competencies – but she received very little response. While tweaking her resume, we changed her name to the family nickname, “Toni.” As a result, she has made several advancements in her career.

Bias Toward Addresses: Some hiring managers discriminate against candidates whose address associated with lower-income areas. I knew a manager who would ask candidates how they get to work. Candidates who took cabs were more attractive to this manager than those who took trains and buses.

Affinity Bias: Another form of bias occurs based on personality traits. Many interviewers are drawn to people who are similar to themselves. Often this is called “affinity bias.” Corporate relationship expert Tony Chatman reminds us, “If you have an interviewer who is detail-oriented, he or she is likely to hire someone who is introverted and detail-oriented, even if the job doesn’t call for it.”

Typical Examples of Bias in Action:

Someone I know recently posted on Facebook to say “inner-city” people needed to learn about hard work and that I would be a good example for them. He had trouble making a rational defense of his comments.

How many times have kids from the inner-city who rise to the college ranks heard this rhetoric? Does this advice work for everyone? How do you know if someone “didn’t work hard”?

Implication: “Your people are lazy.”

2. Statements like “I believe the most qualified person should get the job!”

Often, this statement is used to criticize perceived instances of affirmative action. The thing is, not all of us needed affirmative action to enter college or get a job. My merits are just as good as anyone else’s. Why are you questioning them?

Implication: “People of color get an unfair advantage.”

3. Questions about a person’s demographic or ethnic background, like “What kind of name is this?” or “What nationality are you?”

If you can’t offer solid career advice without knowing someone’s nationality, ethnicity, gender identification, or skin color in 2017, then you give lousy and irrelevant career advice. It probably serves no one.

4. Backhanded compliments, like “You’re so well-spoken/articulate.”

Are you surprised that I speak well? Or that I learned English so well? Why didn’t you say this to my white counterpart?

Implication: “It’s unusual for someone of your race to speak so well. You don’t belong here.”

5. Employers who only hire currently employed job seekers.

Many mega-talented people become unemployed due to circumstances beyond their control. People are laid off, politically ousted, or recipients of other unfortunate situations.

Implication: “Unemployed people are lazy. They will be desperate.”

6. Unreasonable impatience with a candidate who has an accent.

Being invited to an interview is a privilege, but when an interviewer rushes through a phone screening or other conversation, it can be discouraging or disconcerting. Job seekers with accents, unfortunately, face this problem often. When a person raises their voice while speaking to someone who has an accent, it’s not just rude – it’s a microaggression.

Implication: “You don’t belong here. You’re not welcome.”

7. Preferential treatment for men in STEM roles.

One study suggests men are often hired over women for jobs involving math and science. There are many women with aptitudes for math and science, recently illustrated in the movie Hidden Figures. In one scene, one of the central characters says, “There wasn’t a protocol for a female in an engineering class.” There isn’t much need to clarify the insidiousness at work further here.

Implication: “You don’t belong here. You’re not welcome.”

8. Using ‘cultural fit’ to exclude particular types of people.

Often, hiring authorities use “cultural fit” and “gut instinct” to make decisions. “Instinct” leads one to question the validity of their hiring decisions. It also makes one wonder: When employers complain about the skills gap, is it really because they can’t find the skills they need or is it because the people who have the skills aren’t “cultural fits”?

Job seekers should research the “culture” of a prospective employer. Are they using “skills gap” language to obscure their “cultural” hiring practices? Any workplace that seems overly homogenous may be doing just that.

Implication: “You lack the personality, like-mindedness, or ethnicity to be here.”

–

It is unrealistic to think unconscious bias has a cure. There is no way to resolve all of it. It is deeply rooted in our daily lives and social interactions, and the lack of discussion about the subject breeds hostility. Unconscious biases are subtle, and they hurt people in subtle ways.

Let me also save you the trouble of trying to make the “victim card” argument: The reality of unconscious biases shows how thick-skinned the majority of job seekers have to become to succeed. This is the very quality employers like seeing in job seekers, and they should appreciate more the courage, patience, perseverance, persistence, and resilience job seekers display when facing biases.

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market.
Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search.
Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!

Love to hear your thoughts about how a portfolio career would help you:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number

Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message

Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

More about Mac Prichard

Mac loves connection people and passionately loves to help people find jobs they love. Mac’s List has a job board, career advice blog, podcast (in Apple Podcasts), books, and hosts local job events for local Portland Oregon job seekers.

A few highlights from the show:

Mac talks about how both his companies are his passions where they both share the common goals of connecting people to opportunities

Careers and public relations share the need to communicate effectively through storytelling

Mac defines a portfolio career as not relying on just one career

You reach the interview because of data, and stories connect you to the employer

In the mind of an employer, they are wondering what makes you stand out – good storytelling does

“…job seekers need to make the case why they’re the best person for the position and understand employer’s challenges and problems and show the interviewer through effective communication how they can solve the problems…”

A portfolio career offers diversity and skill variety and not to rely on one career

Epilogue

I hope the rest of your summer will be epic! I will be active on the social networks with occasional breaks, and I will be publishing articles on the blog and elsewhere. Please share this show with those who may need it. I will see you Sept 12 with bi-weekly shows. Thanks so much for making this award-winning podcast a joy to produce and publish. By the way, we are entering the fourth year and 170 episodes released!

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market.
Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search.
Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!

Lavie Margolin is back on the show to talk about his latest book Mastering the Job Interview. He is the author of several books about Negotiating Salary to Job Interviews.

What have your interviewing experiences been like recently?

I would love to hear from you in one of three ways:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number

Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message

Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Lavie Margolin (@laviemarg) is the founder of LionCubJobSearch.com! For the last 12 years, Lavie has been in Career Management helping thousands of job seekers. The New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal have featured his career advice.

Here are some highlights from our discuss:

Employer’s extra hoop for job seekers–one or two interviews before meeting a candidate

The access to research increased the expectation the candidate will research before an interview

Do you need job search coaching or instruction?

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market.
Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search.
Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!